Clockwork Summer
by Hoshi-Gazer
Summary: She is used to watching the grains of sand fall slowly; but this summer, she is going to turn her gaze away from the clocks and hourglasses to look at him.
1. First Encounter

My latest obsession has been SasuHina and I've enjoyed so many of the stories I've read. Sasuke and Hinata really have such potential! I'm writing this story as practice because I haven't been writing for quite a while. I'd appreciate any constructive criticism.

The (beautiful) photo credit goes to _Elcii_, and you can find her on DeviantArt. ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, because if I did, Sasuke and Hinata would actually interact.

* * *

_Clockwork Summer_

* * *

She holds an hourglass in her hand with a blank expression.

Watching the grains of sands slowly dispense from the curved top glass, she absentmindedly flips it over as if she had a sixth sense for detecting when the hourglass had to be flipped over.

The room contains a cluster of antique clocks, which seemed to be haphazardly arranged, as if someone had randomly shoved and placed the objects into the room with the desire to finish as soon as possible. However, she could understand, seeing that there were simply too many clocks to arrange in a meticulous manner.

Hinata Hyuuga sits in the back of the room with a clear view of the faraway window, staring at the clear blue skies and the nearby beach with a distant gaze. She sits in front of the closed backroom, waiting for potential customers to trickle into her uncle's clock shop. However, seeing as the beach is just an extremely short distance away, she knows that notion would be quite unlikely, and so she places the hourglass down and looks through her bag to find a novel to pass the time with.

Her uncle, Hizashi Hyuuga, had politely asked Hinata to be his assistant for the summer, seeing as his son, Neji, would be away for his first year of university. Hinata hadn't dared to say anything to her uncle at the time, but Neji had never helped out with the shop. Whenever her cousin had stopped by the shop, he would stand around to say something to his father before leaving. Those occurrences would last approximately five seconds. She had wondered why her uncle would request for her help on the way home when her father announced that he would be taking Hanabi, her little sister, to a training camp for the summer.

Even so, Hinata had been planning to stay at home without her immediate family. She would be okay. After all, she is already seventeen years old, and she would be an adult soon. She had always been taking care of herself, and her father would still be financially supporting her.

Then she had seen the eyes of her uncle when she had visited the shop to deliver the news. Although he had a friendly smile on his face, his eyes told her that he was lonely without Neji, his only son.

So she had nodded with a small smile, thanking him for allowing her to assist him with his work.

* * *

However, she is aware of the fact that the store rarely had visitors. Antique clocks have lost their value to almost all except for collectors, who travel from far away to purchase an item to add to their collection. Hourglasses have been replaced with timers, because other than fascinated children who flip the device over and over again, no one had any interest in them. For that reason, her uncle only had a small collection of hourglasses, but they were all unique and beautiful, and truly one of a kind. Otherwise, the customers usually consist of people wishing to fix their broken watches or clocks.

Before walking to the store in the morning, Hinata had stopped by the library to fill her large tote bag with books, knowing that she would need to do something to occupy herself. Her uncle spends the time in the shop in the backroom fixing or polishing clocks, where there was air conditioning.

With a tired sigh, Hinata reaches her hand into her bag again to look for her paper white fan that she had painted delicate little cherry blossom petals onto. Her job may have been to keep an eye on the store and to greet potential customers (or more likely, a person looking for a clean restroom) but she could rely on the creaky door adorned with small bells to warn her of a person's appearance.

Perhaps she should have borrowed a book about the mechanics of a clock, because she wouldn't want to be completely useless to her uncle. While she is debating whether or not to learn about clocks, her ears hear the gentle chime of the bells.

She pauses for a few seconds in anticipation, feeling too shy to lift her eyes up. She had felt terribly rude for not greeting the customer immediately, but she had to work up the courage to even _look up at the person._

Maybe she should have taken a class to teach her to combat shyness. It would have been the sensible choice.

A small antique clock is placed on the table. With a quick glance, Hinata could tell that it had been dropped. There are minor scratches on the cherry wood and it would take another layer of lacquer to fully coat the exterior. Upon closer examination through the glass, she is relieved to see that the interior clock had been spared. There is a picture of a faded, worn map beyond the roman numerals.

"Some idiot needs his clock to be repaired," she hears a male voice say in a bored drawl.

She finally looks up and prevents herself from flinching. She hadn't expected Sasuke Uchiha to walk in. Actually, she hadn't expected to see him until school started because they sometimes had the same class. More accurately, they had shared the same classroom together in their third year of primary school, third year of middle school, and second year of high school.

And somehow, she had always sat behind the handsome young man. Over the years, she had grown accustomed to his familiar back and the curve of his neck. She could tell that he hadn't been to the beach at all, because his skin retained the same milky white complexion that females are always slathering skincare products on their faces to achieve. His black hair looks as if he recently had a trim, but his locks stubbornly remained in their tousled bed hair state.

Hinata promptly stands up and stutters, "W—welcome! Please wait a moment; I'll tell the owner about this."

She involuntarily flinches at her incompetence. It is only her first day of volunteering, and she couldn't even properly greet the customer.

The _first _customer of the _first_ day.

Sasuke tilts his head as he stared down at the petite girl, and she couldn't help but fidgeting under his scrutinizing gaze. She wishes she could make the blush on her cheeks disappear.

"…You look familiar."

With a jolt, she looks back up at him before her eyes dart back down to the ground. To an innocent bystander, Hinata would appear as if she was very interested in her sandals, but she was simply mustering up the courage to reply.

"My name is—is Hinata Hyuuga. I sat behind you la—last year in class."

_And we attended the same primary school. And middle school. Also, we had classes together in those schools. _

"…Oh," Sasuke replies blankly.

She laughs nervously and stares intently into the clock, wondering if she should retreat into the backroom and notify her uncle about it.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," he introduces himself for some reason, as if she did not know who he was.

Most of the female population in their town (not to mention school) would literally throw themselves at him because of his good looks. He had sharp, deep onyx eyes that compelled people to compose poetry. At the top of the class and the holder of the school sport records, girls are always proclaiming their love for him.

It baffles Hinata when she sees the girls declaring their love for him when it seemed to her that they only liked him for his appearance without knowing anything about him.

Without thinking, she blurts out, "I—I know."

She is almost embarrassed for a split second before realizing that of course he would know that she knew his name. After all, she had sat behind him in class!

Inwardly, she groans. For all she knew, he could be thinking about how she was another fan.

Gesturing to the backdoor, she tells him, "I'll be back."

She stoops down and struggles to pick up the clock before Sasuke sighs and effortlessly lifts it up with a raised eyebrow at the blushing girl. With a small glance at the neglected novel, she frantically shakes her head and lowers her arms to wrap around the clock (in a hopefully protective and gentle manner, despite how much her arms were shaking) before finding herself faced with a closed door.

"…Oops," she mutters under her breath as she stands there, staring at the door as if willing it to magically open.

"You could try _open sesame_."

She blinks and looks up at the boy, wondering if she had imagined him saying that.

"Try it." With a small grin, he shrugs his shoulders and tilts his head towards the direction of the door.

Feeling silly, she follows his advice by whispering the two words and concentrating on the door. She tries to ignore her trembling arms. She feels even sillier for insisting on carrying the clock when it obviously took her a strenuous amount of effort to keep it from crashing into the ground. On the other hand, Sasuke could carry it with one arm without any effort.

Magically, the door opens and her uncle's face appears with a smile. "Hinata-chan! You didn't tell me that we had a customer. Welcome, Uchiha-san. I take it that you need your clock repaired—"

Before her uncle could finish his sentence, Sasuke had silently transferred the clock from Hinata's grasp into her uncle's arms.

Her uncle had only shown the slightest of surprise before nodding in understanding as he appraised the object. "I'll contact you when I'm done."

Sasuke nods in response as Hinata's uncle quietly closes the door, disappearing from sight.

The entire exchange had occurred in less than thirty seconds. Hinata had been listening to the _tick tocks_ of the closest clock, and she shyly looked up at Sasuke in wonder.

"I can't do magic, if that's what you're thinking."

_Did you just read my mind?_

"I didn't read your mind," he replies with an amused tone.

It takes Hinata approximately three seconds for her to realize that she had spoken out loud, and the boy in front of her could indeed not read minds. "Then how did you kn—know that he was going to open the—the door…?"

The look on his face suggests that she was a source of amusement to him, and she didn't like the feeling. "I heard his footsteps, and I needed a method to distract you." She hadn't even had the chance to ask him another question before he answered in advance. "From dropping the clock."

"O—oh. Then t—thank you," she hastily bows in gratitude.

Sasuke had started to walk away towards the direction of the door, but he slightly lifts up his arm as a lazy way of saying bye. "It wasn't for you. It was for the owner of the clock."

Hinata turns over the hourglass in her hands with a distracted gaze at the door thinking that Sasuke Uchiha may not be able to perform magic, but somehow she had a feeling that she was going to have a magical summer.


	2. Second Encounter

Thank you for the lovely reviews! I really appreciate it, and I'll work harder to improve my writing. However, I now feel the pressure of writing a good story...I hope I won't disappoint you too much. As always, constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated.

* * *

_Second Encounter_

* * *

Hinata's uncle has an apologetic expression on his face as he slides open the door of his shop. "Good morning, Hinata-chan. I'm sorry that you had to wake up so early during your summer vacation."

With a shake of her head, she cheerfully greets her uncle a good morning. "No, no," she protests. Her uncle's frown deepens when he hears this. "Please don't apologize. I love waking up in the early morning."

Ever since she could remember, she would naturally wake up around sunrise. She often wakes up to the sight of soft rays of sunlight penetrating through her window curtains. Upon this wondrous sight, she would walk downstairs and sit down on the porch, watching the sun.

The town is silent, almost as if everyone is asleep. Hinata cherishes this moment because the town is rarely quiet, and one has to wake up very early in the morning to achieve this type of peacefulness. The sun is gently shining against the roof of the shop, and in just a few minutes, the streets will be bustling with excitement as people awaken.

As she walks into the shop and sets her bag on the ground near her table, her uncle does not retreat into the backroom as he always does. There are two chairs at her table today, and he sits down next to her.

He shifts the chair slightly and gestures to the teapot in the middle of the table. There is still an apologetic frown on his face. "If you would like, you could come around an hour later," he suggests. "In all my years, I have never seen a customer walk in this early in the morning during the summertime."

The two seem to be thinking of the same thing without even uttering a word, for the shop rarely has customers at all in the summertime. The beach is too much of a temptation, and no one would even be able to see the shop with the splendor of the sand, water, and the sun.

With a small nod, she stands up and pours a cup of tea for her uncle and herself with shaking hands. "No, it's fine. I like waking up in the morning and knowing that I have somewhere to be," she says softly.

Her uncle shakes his head with a small smile, but it is no longer apologetic. He seems to be intentionally not looking at Hinata as he tells her, "You're more like your father than you think."

He takes a long sip of tea and stands up. He intentionally does not look at Hinata, but there is a trace of a soft smile on his face. "You know where to find me," he says as he pulls open the backdoor.

* * *

Hinata's tote bag is considerably bigger than the previous day. Instead of the contents resembling a mini section of the library, there are only two novels that she wants to complete before the end of the day. More strangely and noticeably, there is a small rice cooker securely resting on the bottom of her bag.

Her mother had instilled the importance of fresh food into Hinata's mind as a small child, and even now, she tries to have her food as fresh as possible. Of course, no meal is complete without a bowl of rice, and on a whim, she packed the rice cooker in the morning.

However, due to the lack of cooking appliances, she could not make miso soup even if she had the ingredients, so she had poured the soup into a thermos. With a relieved sigh, she takes out the bag of (uncrushed) cherry tomatoes that she had purchased in the morning because they were on sale.

As she lays the rice cooker on the edge of the table next to the outlet, she takes out several white bowls and plates as she waits for the rice to warm up. She is setting the chopsticks on her handkerchief when the door slides open, revealing Sasuke Uchiha.

"W—welcome!" Hinata stutters immediately. "I'm sorry, but the—the clock isn't repaired yet."

Even around eight o' clock in the morning, Sasuke Uchiha looks like he could be a member of a boy band. His dark hair looks more messy than usual, like he had just arisen from bed, but Hinata is aware that would merely increase the affection of most girls. With his left hand shoved into his white shorts that cut off right above the knees, he barely seems to notice the girl (who is still holding the chopsticks) and says, "I know. I'm here to pick up an hourglass."

"Please wait just a—a moment, I'll tell my uncle," she quickly mumbles, deciding to try out the method to saying everything as quickly as possible in order not to seem like a gaping idiot with an inability to speak. She finally realizes that she is holding onto the chopsticks and tries to nonchalantly set them down.

"Should you be leaving the shop unattended?"

He certainly has a way of surprising her. She contemplates this for a few seconds and replies, "You would never steal, Uchiha-san."

And she hadn't stuttered.

* * *

She knocks on the backdoor once and slips in. She navigates her way seamlessly through the trail of clocks and the occasional toolbox on the ground until she sees the long hair of her uncle. "Oji-san, Uchiha-san is—is here to pick up an—an hourglass."

Her uncle places down one of his tools and looks at Hinata with surprise. "He's a bit early. I'm waiting for a shipment and at the earliest, it isn't supposed to come until eleven o' clock. He knows that."

Hinata doesn't know how to reply, so she settles for the standard, "Oh, is that so…"

She knows her uncle frequently forgets to eat his meals and it worries her father immensely, so before he could pick up his tool again, she blurts out, "Would you like to—to have breakfast with me, oji-san?" She looks down at her fingers nervously and adds, "It's only—only rice and miso soup, and—and it's not as fresh as I'd like it to be, and—and I also have onigiri, but—"

She stops when she hears a throaty chuckle. With a closed fist on his chin, her uncle reaches down to pat Hinata on the head. "Thank you for offering, but I already had breakfast."

"O—oh…"

She turns to leave, but then her uncle calls out, "But I'll take an onigiri for lunch when I'm hungry."

"Y-yes!" Hinata exclaims, covering her smile with the sleeves of her cardigan as she rushes back.

* * *

Before Hinata could open her mouth as she closes the backdoor, she hears Sasuke say, "Itachi lied. He said that the hourglass would be available when the shop opened."

Hinata thinks back to the time she had seen the older Uchiha brother pick up Sasuke around third grade. It had only been one time, but she remembers the smile on Sasuke's face when they walked out the classroom and Itachi had been waiting for him by the tree.

Sasuke had been trying to pretend that he wasn't happy to see Itachi and protested that he didn't need to be chaperoned home, but Itachi simply had placed his hand on his little brother's head with an affectionate smile and said, "Let's go home."

Although Hinata had never interacted with Itachi, she had heard many things about him. He is well-known for being a genius, and at twenty years old, he is a respected doctor in the medical field. Whenever the official Hyuuga doctor isn't in town, Hinata would bring Hanabi to Itachi's office because he was the only "competent doctor other than the Hyuuga doctor" according to her father.

"May—maybe your brother really thought that the hourglass—"

Sasuke cuts her off. "He doesn't make mistakes."

Something occurs to Hinata, and she asks, "How did you—you know that the hourglass wasn't available?"

Sasuke dangles his phone from the tips of his index finger and thumb with a disgusted expression. "He sent me a message consisting of an insecure apology about how he had _somehow_ had mistaken eleven o' clock for eight o' clock. As if someone could make _that_ kind of mistake..."

Hinata has to stop herself from laughing at his disgusted expression. Although he is obviously annoyed at his older brother, she knows that Sasuke is not truly mad at his older brother. In fact, she feels that Sasuke himself must feel a bit amused at his older brother's antics.

At school, Sasuke mostly had an indifferent expression and she couldn't blame him. Sometimes she had wondered if he would have been more interested in his classes if he had skipped a year, but he seems to be content sharing a class with Naruto. (At least, that is the impression she had formed whenever she had seen Sasuke discreetly scoff at his blonde friend.) The only times Sasuke had changed his expression at school was when he was with Naruto, but Hinata found it amusing how quickly Sasuke's expression would change from indifference to annoyance.

Still, she couldn't even wrap her head around the fact that she was conversing with Sasuke after _years_ of attending the same schools, having some of the same classes together, and sitting behind him. He must be very bored, she thinks to herself, or perhaps he simply is too lazy to leave.

Her growling stomach interrupts her thoughts and she blushes. She gestures to the table, avoiding his eyes, and invites him to join her for breakfast. She finds herself making the same excuses that she gave her uncle.

"I—I know it isn't much, and I only have r—rice, and—and onigiri, and the miso soup is—is in a thermos, and I still haven't washed the cherry tomatoes—"

When she looks up, she sees him sliding into the chair across from her.

* * *

Hinata returns with clean cherry tomatoes and a bucket of water. "I—I felt bad for using the hose in the back and I didn't want—want to waste water, so I washed it—it on top of a buck—bucket…"

She has to admit, she always feels stupid whenever Sasuke is around. She couldn't think of one useful thing to do with the bucket, but maybe she could keep it with her in case there is a fire.

Which is a horrible thing to think, but it's better to be safe and sound.

Or maybe she is just paranoid.

Sasuke merely raises an eyebrow when he sees her carrying the small bucket, but he doesn't say anything until she empties the bag of tomatoes onto a small plate, pours miso soup into a bowl, and gives him a bowl of rice.

"Itadakimasu."

The scene would seem peculiar to customers if they had walked in. Two silent teenagers are sitting across from each other, as if they are both trained to be quiet. They do not talk. They simply sip their miso soup from time to time, they simply reach for the plate of cherry tomatoes from time to time, and they simply use their chopsticks to scoop a small chunk of rice into their mouths.

Hinata notices that Sasuke really,_ really_ likes tomatoes. She doesn't say anything and continues to sip her soup. Whenever she does take a tomato, she bites into it with a satisfied smile. She can see why he likes them so much. A burst of succulent flavor practically explodes in her mouth before mellowing out into a pleasant taste.

"Gochisousama," Sasuke says as soon as there are no more tomatoes.

_You really like tomatoes, don't you, Uchiha-san?_

"Have you noticed that you don't stutter whenever you don't realize that you have spoken?"

Hinata chokes on her onigiri, and Sasuke hands her the handkerchief on the table. She coughs into her handkerchief for a few seconds before she drinks the remainder of her miso soup in one gulp. Somehow, she manages to make even this look simultaneously graceful and clumsy at the same time.

"And yes, I really do like tomatoes," he answers as the coughing subsides.

The backdoor opens and Hinata's uncle emerges with an hourglass delicately embedded with the Uchiha symbol. The red is faded compared to the symbol she has seen the Uchiha family wearing on occasion, but it is still stark in comparison to the white counterpart of the fan. Sasuke takes the hourglass into his hands and nods in thanks.

"Tell your brother to take good care of the hourglass, now. It takes quite a while to import those red grains of sand."

"Thanks, I will," Sasuke politely replies.

Hinata's uncle nods his head and crosses his arms with a satisfied look, and Hinata can't help but admire how many males could communicate by simply nodding. If only she could pull that off, her shyness would not be so painful and burdensome.

Hesitantly, she juts out her chin slightly. Maybe she _could_ communicate with people like this and never again would she have to suffer while people had to listen to her awful stutter...

Feeling silly, she looks up to continue watching the exchange between her uncle and Sasuke. To her surprise, Sasuke had been watching her silly attempt at..._nodding_, of all things, and his lip is curved slightly to the side.

She resists the burning temptation to crawl under the table and forces herself to not look away from him.

He is holding the hourglass in the palm of his hand and he turns to look at the door. Hinata can't help but feel a stab of disappointment because she enjoys his company, but there is no reason for him to stay any longer.

She stares down at her sandals again, and she wishes to have courage. She wants to tell him to stay a little longer because she would like to get to know him, but he would surely have the wrong impression of her.

So she'll wait a little longer. If he returns again to the shop, she'll become a little braver.  
Each and every time he walks through that door, she will become braver and braver, little by little.

And so, she almost misses his words while she makes up her mind.

"Thanks for the tomatoes."

She can only see his retreating back as he walks out that door, but why should she wait until the next time she sees him? What if he never returns to the shop? If that should happen, then she would be wasting her time waiting for him.

"Uchiha-san! I'll—I'll have tomatoes for you next—next time!" She calls out as loudly as she can, and she is momentarily scared that her efforts have gone to waste when she arrives at the door. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees him just a step away from her, and she can tell that he had heard her because he had been waiting for her.

She is breathless, and already she knows she could never forget the sight of Sasuke looking at her as the sun illuminated his features in such a way that gave him a glow.

Holding the hourglass in his hand, he flips it over with a flick of his wrist.

"I'll be waiting then."

As he walks away, Hinata watches him until he disappears from her sight. With her hand clasped to her beating heart, she thinks to herself that although she could been imagining the smile on his face, she could have never imagined falling for him.


	3. Third Encounter

This will be the last update for a very long time, if ever. School is starting soon for me and I don't know if this story is worth the time writing new chapters for.

In my defense, Sasuke _is_ a very bored individual. (Also, I'm horrible with inserting realistic stutters into Hinata's part of the dialogue and I obviously know nothing about clocks. _Nothing_.)

_**EDIT:**_ This story has been discontinued due to our mutual lack of interest. (Readers and writer alike.) I bored _myself_ while writing these chapters, which goes to show how dull this story is...thank you to my reviewers for leaving something for me to read.

* * *

_Third Encounter_

* * *

It has been a week and a half since Hinata had breakfast with Sasuke. The sun has been emerging from the mountains earlier than it had for the previous weeks, and Hinata finds herself waking up more earlier and earlier as a result. The previously gentle rays of the sun are scorching hot, and she rushes to the shop to enjoy the cool breeze before the sun starts to fully release its potential.

During the afternoon, she reaches into her bag for a paper fan as she rubs a handkerchief on her damp forehead. She has a low tolerance against the cold and the heat, which is unfortunate for her. Her town likes to transition from extreme cold weather with snow to extreme hot weather with heat waves. She prefers to wear as many layers as possible to cover up her body because she is uncomfortable with her body, but it is simply impossible when the weather is so hot.

Although it had been on a whim, she is happy that she has a rice cooker in the shop. She had purchased a bag of rice from the market conveniently located across from the shop and almost broke her back dragging the bag to the shop, but it was worth it. Now she can have fresh rice whenever she wants!

Since the breakfast with Sasuke, she has been purchasing a bag of cherry tomatoes in case he ever comes by again. The antique clock has been fixed and restored to its original glorious state, and she has been anxiously awaiting his arrival to pick it up.

Sadly, she has been eating cherry tomatoes by herself (and sometimes with her uncle) because Sasuke hasn't stopped by the shop so far. Embarrassingly, it has made her uncle think that she has an obsession with tomatoes when she really doesn't. Of course, tomatoes are delicious, but she wouldn't eat them_ every single day_. (Which she _has_ been doing.)

She walks into the shop with the usual greeting for her uncle. The two exchange pleasantries for a few minutes before her uncle, as usual, retreats into the backroom.

With the severe lack of customers, she wonders what he could be doing to occupy so much of his time in the backroom. She knows he works on the clocks, of course, and sometimes designs things to decorate the hourglasses, but she wonders how he seems to be so financially secure when there haven't been any collectors to provide for most of the profit.

After she empties the bag of tomatoes into a bowl, she washes them thoroughly above a bucket. (She finally had found a use for keeping a small bucket of water near her: to wash the tomatoes.) She leaves the tomatoes in the center of the table and goes on her morning routine of emptying out the thermos of miso soup into a bowl as she waits for the rice to finish cooking.

It doesn't differ too much from her usual morning routine, except she doesn't bring in a small fish to eat. She saves that for the evening, for when she eats dinner at home.

The bells chime a short melody as the door slides open. She sees the familiar blonde hair that she is so well-acquainted with at school, but it's an unfamiliar sight in the shop. Naruto's face lights up when he spots Hinata sitting in the back (in the awkward position of saying _itadakimasu_, with her head slightly bowed_ and_ with her plain onigiri) and raises his arm in greeting.

"Hey, Hinata! You work here?" He yells in excitement and starts running towards her. When he reaches her, he plops down into the empty seat and hungrily eyes the meal on the table.

"I—I do," she replies with wide eyes, wondering why he is so energetic in the early morning. Whenever she sees him at school, he is rubbing his tired eyes or even worse, asleep in class. Sometimes she sees him during the morning ceremony with his eyes closed, but it impresses her whenever she catches him sleeping while standing up. If he isn't shouting, he's sleeping.

His stomach growls to his embarrassment, and he laughs while rubbing the back of his head. Hinata stifles a giggle. Naruto really is predictable in so many ways, unlike someone else. "Would you—you like to join me for breakfast, Na—Naruto-kun? I'm afraid it isn't—isn't much…"

His blue eyes sparkle and he claps his hands together with a huge grin. "Thanks, Hinata! Itadakimasu!"

As Hinata is preparing the necessary bowls for Naruto, he exclaims in realization, "Oh right, Sasuke is meeting up with me here! Could he eat with us?"

Hinata's heart skips a beat, but she tries to pretend to be casual. "Of—of course, Na—Naruto-kun. He—he must be hun—hungry."

She pretends to look through the small drawer located on the side of the table to hide her blush. She mentally scolds herself. _What part of being casual equals stuttering more than usual? _

"Um, Hinata?"

_And he has already forgotten you! He said he'd be "waiting" but in reality, _you're_ the only left waiting.  
_

"…Um, um, Hinata?"

_Tomorrow, you're going to buy fish! Fish! Because you need more iron and protein in the morning—_

As Hinata finishes her inner monologue, she closes the drawer shut with an empty hand and finds herself looking into Sasuke's face. "Uchi—Uchiha-san!" She exclaims in shock, leaning backwards on her chair until she almost falls.

"Breakfast with Hyuuga again, huh?" He asks, obviously as a rhetorical question, as he reaches for a tomato. It sounds like an inside joke to Hinata, and she would have laughed if it weren't for the danger of collapsing onto the ground. He promptly drops the tomato into his mouth and steadies Hinata's chair with ease to stop her from falling.

"Hi_na_ta!" Naruto groans with a tilt of his head. "I was calling your name but you wouldn't respond! I wanted to tell you that Sasuke arrived."

Hinata nods and stands up to serve Sasuke, as a good hostess should. Her head is spinning, her hand is busy, and her heart is beating too quickly. The blood rushes to her face when she hears Naruto's statement, and she takes a peek at the confused expression on his face. "I'm so—sorry! I was—was distracted and I didn't hear you, Na—Naruto-kun…"

Naruto waves his chopstick around, his confusion already gone. "No, no, it's fine. The food looks good!"

"Itadakimasu," the three chant in union.

Naruto differs from Sasuke in many ways. For example, Naruto had worn an unusual orange shirt with a blue stripe and blue shorts. With his messy blonde hair sticking up, he looks like he ran to the store as soon as he woke up. On the other hand, Sasuke had worn another dark blue button-down and a black pair of shorts that hit right above the knee, similar to his white shorts. His messy hair added to his appeal.

Naruto practically inhales the meal. He shoves everything into his mouth without breathing. He uses his chopsticks with deft precision to grab the tomatoes, stopping only to chew on it before gulping the entire bowl of miso soup with a satisfied sigh. "Gochisousama!" He yells in triumph, giving a thumbs-up to Hinata with a grateful grin. "You're the best, Hinata!"

Sasuke quietly alternatives between miso soup and rice. Upon completion, he places the bowl onto the side so he can focus on eating his tomatoes, one at a time. Hinata observes that he saves the best for last.

When he reaches the final tomato, he chews on it for a little longer until he swallows. His subtle longing look is almost unnoticed by Hinata and he mutters, "Gochisousama."

Naruto had been unsubtly fidgeting with his hands, looking up with guilty wide eyes while he waited for his friend to finish his meal. With his trademark smile, he takes this as his cue to start pounding on Sasuke's shoulders. "Sasuke!"

"What?"

Naruto continues to laugh and repeats his friend's name. "_Sa_suke!"

_"What?"_

Naruto nervously rubs his head with an anxious smile that he seems to struggle to keep on his face. "Well, well, Sakura-chan_ just_ messaged me and…it seems she's at the beach right now…and well you know…"

Sasuke doesn't respond.

Naruto points out the window towards the direction of the beach. His eyes are longing for the fresh ocean breeze, the feeling of sand grazing his bare feet, the pretty pink-haired girl waiting for him…

"And it seems the beach is _right_ there," Naruto comments unnecessarily with an unconvincing act of surprise.

With an exasperated sigh, Sasuke places his elbows onto the table and interlocks his fingers together. "I'm not carrying your clock to your apartment."

"C'mon, please, please, Sasuke!" Naruto links his hands together and bows his head with a desperate plea. "I'll do _anything_! I'll treat you to curry. I'll buy you pounds and pounds of _tomatoes_."

Sasuke surprises Hinata by not taking the offer of the tomatoes, but by commanding his blonde friend to tie himself to a tree tomorrow for twenty-four hours.

Naruto only slightly grimaces before he runs out of the shop, thanking Sasuke the whole way from his seat, to the door, to the way to the beach…Naruto certainly had a loud voice.

_You're a bit sadistic, Uchiha-san…_

Hinata manages to realize that she had said the words out loud this time by witnessing the subtle change in Sasuke's incredulous expression.

"I'm the one who carried his clock to this shop, and now I'm the one who has to carry it back. And the idiot isn't actually going to do it," Sasuke defends himself as he unbuttons the top button of his button-down, which seemed to have been pinching the skin of his neck. Hinata sees the glimpse of his collarbones and looks away at the sight, telling herself not to blush. "Hyuuga, do you even help out with the clocks? Or do you just sit here all day relaying messages to your uncle that a customer has arrived?"

He is blunt, but Hinata doesn't feel hurt or indigent. He is merely speaking the truth, and she has felt useless on countless occasions when she thinks of her unnecessary role of assistant. She looks at the framed picture on the wall, and he follows her gaze.

Neji is standing there with his father in front of the shop with an indifferent expression, but Hinata knew her cousin well. She could see the faintest of a smile on his face as her uncle smiles warmly at the camera. They both have the same long silky, shiny dark hair that all the Hyuugas inherit.

"Neji nii-san…he's the pri—pride of the Hyuuga clan. He's quite similar to your bro—brother in certain aspects," Hinata smiles of the praises that all the Hyuugas lavish onto her cousin. "He's a genius and—and he can do anything. He—he can fix clocks so quickly that it seems magical!"

A wash of nostalgia flows over Hinata, and her smile widens with affectionate eyes. She almost seems to be musing to herself, as if Sasuke was not in front of her. "I wanted to be like him…so one day, he was—was teaching me to fix an antique cl—clock and my ha—hand got stuck inside of it. I was six—six at the time, and my hand was small—small enough to get stuck."

Sasuke notices the change as Hinata reminisces her memories with her cousin. The smile disappears, and she looks down at the ground. She tries to steady her shaking voice before continuing.

"From that day…Neji nii-san for—forbade me from trying to help him out or his father—father with the clocks. And…I—I listen to him, because he still feels guilt—guilty to this day," she confesses to Sasuke with a mournful expression. "And he shouldn't, because he ex—exaggerated the story to his father and my father. My hand w—was perfectly fine."

Sasuke had been silent as she spoke, and he tilts his chair back slightly and gazes up at the ceiling, which is a slightly different shade from the interior walls of the shop. He doesn't say anything for a while, which makes Hinata nervous and embarrassed. The story _had_ been boring, and she feels sorry that she made him listen. Before she could open her mouth to apologize, he seems to know about her actions before she could execute them and he interrupts.

"At least you're helping out your family," he tells her, and it sounds almost like a compliment to Hinata's ears. She tries to prevent the blush from appearing on her cheeks, but she obviously hasn't been able to acquire that helpful ability. She twiddles her thumbs under the table as a distraction, but it doesn't help.

Sasuke casually drapes his arm behind his chair, and Hinata resists the temptation to take his picture. He looks like he's modeling and even the shabby chair looks appealing with him perched onto it. "Most people don't know the true value of family," he continues. "And your cousin…isn't he that kid who chased after Naruto?"

Hinata almost bursts out laughing at the sudden change of topic and nods rapidly. A soft giggle escapes her lips, and she explains that once Naruto had mistaken Neji for a girl because of his long hair.

"Neji nii-san gets very—very offended if someone thinks he's a girl," Hinata mock-whispers, as if she is imparting a confidential secret. She even has her hand on the side of her lips, and Sasuke leans down in order for his ear to hear her. She can see the slight smile on his face, and she feels like they are conspiring together. "S—so after Naruto complimented Neji nii-san's hair, Neji nii-san turned a—around with an evil smi—smile. Naruto literally jumped—jumped into the air!"

She hears a chuckle from Sasuke, and she knows he must be imagining the scene in his mind. "Neji nii-san started to—to chase him, and somehow, Naruto ended up in front of—of the Hyuuga estate and otousan saw Neji nii-san and beckoned him to come in. But then," Hinata pauses for dramatic effect. "Then otousan told him that since Neji nii-san has such beautiful hair—hair, Neji nii-san should help otousan pick a ha—hair ornament for Hanabi-chan…which Neji nii-san could handle, except when he was at a—a shop, the _owner_ had mistaken him for a girl and walked up to him—him with hair ornament suggestions for Neji nii-san's own hair…"

Sasuke shakes his head with one last chuckle as Hinata giggles, and he is almost about to comment on the story. However, Hinata seems to remember something because her eyes widen in realization.

Sasuke squints his eyes with suspicion and stares at the girl as Hinata's lips stayed close, and he commands her to say what she is thinking.

She shakes her head.

With his smoothest voice that he only reserves for special occasions, he repeats his request.

She stubbornly shakes her head again, tossing her long midnight blue hair in front of one shoulder. The Hyuugas may all inherit black hair, but Hinata had been the exception.

Sasuke inwardly grins. He likes a challenge, and his curiosity has been piqued. He places his elbow onto the table and rests his chin on his first, leaning forward so their eyes were in extremely close proximity. He had been startled the first time he saw the Hyuuga eyes the first time as a child, because he had never seen such light eyes before in his life. He had always assumed their eyes were completely white, but he could see flecks of lavender in Hinata's eyes. He allows a glimpse of a grin appear on his face when he sees her startled expression. With a voice as smooth as silk, he murmurs, "Won't you tell me?"

He smiles in satisfaction when her face reddens up, and the shade of red resembles a tomato to him. She stutters incomprehensible things and he waits patiently for her to catch her breath.

"I—I—I—I can't—can't tell you be—because it's agreed that we would never—never speak of it and—and Neji nii-san would be so—so mad and—and—"

She finally seems to be breathing, but Sasuke isn't going to let her recover. She had been far more stubborn than he initially thought, and he was close to reaching his goal. (Besides amusing himself.) "I won't tell," he murmurs and reaches out his hand to take a lock of her hair into his hands, but she had fast reactions and moved her chair back. She practically slams into the wall, but she doesn't noticed.

"I—I really can't!" Hinata manages to squeak out, and turns away to stare at the wall, wishing for the Uchiha to leave the shop before she betrays her beloved cousin. She had a weakness for those onyx eyes.

"Hinata-chan."

Hinata turns around slowly with fear in her eyes, and her hands curl up into balls that fall onto her lap. "Please—please do not mock me, Uchiha-san."

Sasuke takes his arm away from the table and leans back on his chair with his arms casually draped behind his head. He looks down with her with that familiar hint of amusement in his eyes, and Hinata still doesn't like the feeling. "If you won't tell me, I'll come into the shop every day," he shrugs his shoulders with a sly look at her. "I can be _very_ persuasive."

_Are you that bored?_

Hinata gives another squeak and covers up her mouth with shame, and she shakes her head in protest. "I'm so sorry—sorry, I—I didn't mean to say—say that and—and you needn't to come here every day be—because I can't tell you—you—"

"I'm a_ very_ bored individual," Sasuke confesses with a bored drawl, and she can't help but feel he was still mocking her with his sarcastic tone. To her relief, he doesn't seem to be offended over her question. In fact, he looks more amused than before. "If it's agreed upon that you would never speak of it, then it must not be a promise. He didn't tell you to not tell anyone. It's something that happened to him involving his peculiar habit of being mistaken as a girl and it's something embarrassment, isn't it?" Hinata marvels over his skills of deduction and almost misses his question of confirmation.

She confirms his deduction in amazement before she could think, and she regrets her affirmation instantly. She couldn't lie to herself, because she would love to have the Uchiha as company for the summer. She finds herself anticipating his visits and the interactions the two shared, no matter how confused she found herself after he leaves the shop. But yet, she couldn't deny it—she is interested in him, and he finds her interesting. Or more accurately, a source of amusement.

With a resigned sigh, she finds pride in predicting his next action correctly:

"See you tomorrow, Hyuuga," he says with the same lazy method of saying bye—by lifting one arm up with his back turned—and she waves back this time.

"See you tomorrow, Uchiha-san," she whispers with a smile, noticing that the boy had "forgotten" to take the clock with him.


End file.
